


Unstable

by GretchenSinister



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 21:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20627558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Jack Frost/Jon Snow. Interpret this how you will."You know, I don’t normally comment on the prompts, but after poking around in the ASOIAF wiki, I have to say that I'm astonished that this extremely brief, open prompt was what showed up in the RotG kinkmeme.So here goes. (My knowledge of ASOIAF stems entirely from 1)the wiki 2)memes 3)tiresome conversations among academics and 4) 1 episode of GoT I watched while knitting.)Jon Snow runs into Jack Frost, thinks he’s an Other. As soon as Jack begins to clarify things, though, he gets shut down. What’s going on here is that I’m sort of imagining the Guardians like the Endless…maybe. They’re higher powered than anyone else, but even though Katherine’s in charge of all stories doesn’t mean everyone else gets to mess with them and trust she’ll set everything right. AKA the crossovers always get meta.





	Unstable

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 3/21/2014.

He hadn’t known what to expect on his first journey, alone, beyond the Wall. More of the same that he’d encountered when accompanied by comrades, he supposed. Not this.   
  
The Other stands by a weirwood tree, talking quietly to its face, pausing every now and then as if to listen to what it has to say, though Jon hears nothing. Occasionally, he laughs—a laugh strange in how ordinary it sounds, at night in the Haunted Forest.  
  
But then again, what is strange here, and what ordinary? The young man a dozen or so yards away from him and Ghost doesn’t look exactly like the Others as he’d been told of them. Aside from his coloring, his face and clothes seem like any other person’s. And yet—Jon takes shallow breaths of the air, colder far in this clearing than it had been at the castle, or just inside the Wall—there can be no doubt that Other is what he is.  
  
Ghost’s shoulder under Jon’s hand feels tense, but in wariness, not yet readiness to attack. Jon looks from the wolf to the Other and frees a few inches of his sword from its sheath. The Others are shrouded in legend. If he can talk to this one, or even capture him, he’d not only become near-legendary himself, but benefit the Watch immeasurably.  
  
As soon as he and Ghost step out of the cover of the trees and into the moonlit clearing, the Other stops speaking to the weirwood and turns to face him, fixing him with the uncanny blue eyes the legends have not exaggerated.  
  
“You can see me,” he says, and his face breaks into an easy grin. “They already don’t like that.” He laughs and pats the tree trunk.  
  
Jon narrows his eyes, unsure how to respond. From the corner of his eye, he sees Ghost relax, and even start wagging his tail like any happy dog. This is already turning into something that makes a poor story.  
  
“Oh, but before I forget. I’m Jack Frost. And you’re—well, I’ll let you introduce yourself.”  
  
“Jon Snow.”  
  
“So how could we have not met!” Jack takes a few steps forward, and Jon readies his grip on his sword. Jack stills, holding his hands up in front of him. “Whoa, calm down.” He looks quickly around himself. “I’m not doing anything threatening, am I? I’m not even armed.”  
  
“Armed?” Jon frowns. “You’re an Other. You don’t need arms to make you dangerous.”  
  
“Hmm. First, _no_, and second…all right, I will concede that’s true. But I wouldn’t hurt a fellow guardmember. In a manner of speaking, that is. We guard different things, of course.”  
  
“Of course.” Jon wants to relax, but forces himself not to, having the uneasy feeling that this desire is as much a part of the being’s aura as the bitter cold. “If you’re not an Other, what are you?”  
  
“I’m—” Jack begins, then turns suddenly back to the tree, “What do you mean I can’t tell him? Give me one good reason.”  
  
A long pause follows.  
  
“Unstable! I am not the most destabilizing thing—fine! I will ask her.” He faces Jon again. “Sorry, looks like I’m going to have to have a very serious discussion with someone who I would name if I could but—it’s complicated.” He leans on a staff, which Jon can only assume appeared out of thin air.  
  
“The short version is, though, that I’m a drowned boy.” He smiles. “Dead at seventeen. I don’t recommend it. Try to avoid it. What!” he yells at the tree. “All right, all right, I’m going, I’m going, it’s not like…”  
  
Whatever it isn’t like, Jon Snow can’t say, as Jack Frost’s words are swept away, along with him, in a sudden, icy gale, leaving Jon feeling like he knows even less than he did before.

**Author's Note:**

> Tags from Tumblr:
> 
> #I wanna talk to this OP#what about the Old Gods?#what about the Seven?#What about Night's King?#I mean criminy#Also the wiki made the book series sound far more interesting than everything I had previously heard made it sound


End file.
